England urgently need to arrest a sequence of nine defeats in their last 10 international matches against in-form Pakistan on Monday.

Alastair Cook's second away series as permanent one-day international captain will be a major test of his and his team's credentials, in alien conditions - and he makes no apology for spelling out exactly what he expects of them.

England's first subcontinental attempt in the era of Cook's leadership could scarcely have gone any worse, ending in an unexpected 5-0 whitewash in India four months ago.

He does not condemn them for that alone, but makes it clear there will be no such tolerance if it appears lessons have not been learned from those failures in this four-match series.

"One of the things we said at the time was we tried as hard as we could and we came up quite a long way short again against India," he said.

"There's no shame in that, but there will be a shame if we don't learn individually from that and where we need to take our game. I hope people have done that."

England began their Indian misadventure in October in a near-euphoric state, having just added an ODI series victory over those same opponents to the 4-0 Test success which took them to the top of the International Cricket Council rankings last summer.

Current circumstances are astoundingly different, given such a short intervening passage of time, as England try to put behind them not only that 5-0 ODI drubbing but a shocking 3-0 Test whitewash here against Pakistan over the past month.

"The Tests didn't go to plan, and we didn't play very well," said Cook.

"But it's a new format, and the squad has introduced six new faces. It's brought a freshness and enthusiasm to the squad."

Another area of optimism for Cook is his new opening partnership with Kevin Pietersen, following the latter's return to the top of the order.

Pietersen first tried his luck opening at last year's World Cup, and the signs were encouraging but far from conclusive until he had to fly home with a hernia injury.

It is more than three years since he made the last of his seven ODI hundreds. But Cook was enthused by his latest attempt at opening in Friday's victory over England Lions at the Zayed Stadium - venue also for Monday's match - and he senses even the Pakistani spinners who confounded the tourists so unerringly in the Test series may be vulnerable to Pietersen.

"It's a new challenge for KP - he did it a little bit in India, for a couple of games at the World Cup before he got injured, and he showed signs of promise.

"He's excited about it; I'm excited about it - and when he's in full flow in the powerplay it's going to be hard to stop him.

"KP is unique in his own way and he's certainly got the class - he averages 50 in Test cricket and 40 in ODIs.

"He's a world-class player, and to make the most of those first 10 overs with two new balls you need a world-class player with a world-class technique - and he's got the power."

Cook is understandably reluctant to mention Pietersen in the same breath as some of the world's greatest ever limited-overs openers, before he has even had a chance to prove himself in the new role.

He said: "I don't want to compare him to Matthew Hayden, but you need people at the top who can play like that.

"I hope batting at the top of the order will bring out the best in him."

Cook can only hope too that England will collectively fare much better against Pakistan in 50 overs than they did in five days.

"Certainly the one-day game dictates you have to be more positive, and we're not going to have men around the bat all the time, so it changes your mentality as a batter.

"It frees you up, and we've got a good record against Pakistan.

"We've had success against these bowlers before in one-day cricket, so I hope we won't banish memories of what happened in the Test matches but free up a little bit and attack."

Cook's opposite number Misbah-ul-Haq remains respectful of England's potential, despite the Test whitewash and the fact his own team have won their last six ODI series and 13 of their last 14 50-over matches.

"It's a different ball game ... in one-dayers, you have flat pitches - but I still hope that my spinners do well," he said.

"England are a good side. Having lost their last series 5-0 doesn't mean that they are a bad side."